​25:31–46 True Obedience Defined: Love for the King’s BrothersThis passage elaborated the concept in 25:26 that not only blatant acts of evil would reap judgment. The failure to do the will of the Father and to use his gifts for the sake of others would also bring judgment. It also described the gathering and evaluation of the elect. The subjects of judgment would be people from all the nations. The separation of the sheep and goats depicted the judgment on the Gentile nations that would precede the inauguration of the kingdom and determine who would enter. The basis for entrance was faith, evidenced by works of kindness (25:35–39). No unbelievers (“goats”) would be permitted to enter.The two commands in 25:34, 41 brought some surprises (cf. 25:37, 44) for both the saved and the unsaved. For each group Jesus stressed the way they treated their fellow brothers and sisters. He had already defined who they were in 12:48–50. He placed great emphasis on community life in the gospel ministry. Jesus taught that the rewards of the kingdom were based on the good deeds performed for others. Showing love toward others would prove love for God (1 John 4:7–8). Love for Jesus’ family rounded out the concept of “the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs” of the Beatitudes (Matt. 5) and summed up all the character traits desired by Jesus for his followers: gentleness, humility, compassion, and obedience.

Shouldnt we be showing love and compassion to all? It's important to show these thing to our brothers and sisters too, but don't we have an obligation to show His love to all people? When we come across "the least of these" it's usually not within our church family. I guess when I compare Christians and non-Christians I can't help but feel compassion for those who don't know Christ. I was once one of them....as we all were, but if people wouldn't have taken time and shown me love and compassion in my sin....I would still be there.
But we are only held accountable for the works we did within the body for each other?

Reply

Jeff

10/12/2015 12:45:14 pm

OK, so this answer might not full answer your question and it might be somewhat confusing, so if need be we can talk more about this at a church gathering if that is helpful.

That being said, there are a few things that we must keep in mind when understanding this passage and the difficulty of it.

1-The Bible (God's perfect Words) was written to and for the church (people of God), not written for the world.

2- In this passage, both the sheep and the goats think they are in the people of God. Only the goats find out after the fact they are not.

3-This is a hard saying of Jesus. Which means there is some mystery to it and it says things we do not like to hear.

OK, again understanding those 3 things, here I think is the best answer I can share. When a Christian accepts Jesus as their Savior, they surrender their life to Him and in turn begin to grow more like Him. That mans as each member of the church grows, they each begin to bear imperfectly the image of Jesus and are representatives of Him in the World. Jesus say it in another place, they did not see Him but the world knows Him by His children.

In this text, Jesus is telling the sheep they are welcomed into heaven because they served Jesus when they served someone who represented Jesus. So, that means the sheep were helping those around them who took the place of Jesus. The world can never take the place of Jesus, only His children can. So the sheep are welcomed and blessed in this passage because they served someone else in the family of God.

Now, there are other passages and teachings from Jesus where He commands His children to also love the lost and dying world. Today in the reading 10/12 is an example of that and I blogged about that a little. So overall, yes Jesus wants us to care for the world, in general, but I am convinced Jesus wants His children to show the greatest concern for those in the family already.

The church is unique above everything else. The church as a whole is special to Jesus above the individual parts. So Jesus desires His church to be totally counter-cultural in the way they care for one another and these verses here show it. These verses do not discount other commands to love the world, but raise the love for our fellow sheep above all else...